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Biotech / Medical : SARS and Avian Flu
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To: Biomaven who wrote (782)5/12/2003 1:16:57 AM
From: Torben Noerup Nielsen  Read Replies (2) of 4232
 
Peter,

"You can get numerous colds because there are literally hundreds of different bugs that can produce cold symptoms"

About half of all colds are caused by rhinovirus and you can be infected with the same strain repeatedly because there is very little adaptive immune response. A rhinovirus infection generally doesn't last long enough to fully stimulate the adaptive immune response. Thus memory B and T cells aren't produced in sufficient numbers to effectively prevent a subsequent infection even with the same strain. Rhinovirus is largely eliminated by the innate immune response and that doesn't have memory.

Flu is problematic because it has a genome that consists of 8 separate strands. That allows reassortment during coinfection. Think of it as a form of viral sex; it allows for very rapid generation of variation. This is on top of mutation in individual strands of the genome.

Torben
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